Supporters of the privatized Medicare Part D benefit and opponents of a public health insurance option being made available to everyone as part of national health care reform, have made much of reports that revised estimates of the Part D benefit's cost are lower than initial projections. This twisting of the facts ignores actual initial predictions and the Medicare private drug plans' performance compared with other government programs and other countries. A look at the evidence shows that the privatized structure of the Medicare drug benefit has led to higher costs for people with Medicare and taxpayers.

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